Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (586 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

In metalworking, the plunging of a red-hot iron implement into cold water or brine to harden it.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Important trading port, inland from modern-day Etaples on the north French coast, that flourished in the early medieval period. The Quentovic mint began in the early 7th century
ad
and in the following two centuries was one of the most important in the
CAROLINGIAN
empire. Quentovic was attacked by Vikings several times and by the 11th century it was abandoned in favour of more easily fortified sites nearby.
[Rep.: D Hill
et al
., 1990, Quentovic defined.
Antiquity
, 64, 51–8]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A hand-operated device used for grinding corn to produce flour. Querns consist of two coarse stones (quernstones), usually granite, sandstone, or a conglomerate, set one above the other and rubbed together with the corn in between. The lower stone is usually fixed and stationary while the upper stone is moved either in a rotary motion (
ROTARY QUERN
) or by a push–pull motion (
SADDLE QUERN
). Mechanical querns operated with the help of animal, water, or wind power are referred to as
MILLS
. See also
METATE
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

See
QUERN
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Widely recognized deity known in many parts of Mesoamerica in Olmec, Toltec, Maya, Teotihuacan, and Aztec times. Usually depicted as the feathered serpent, but god of many things including the wind, the morning star, and the evening star. In Aztec cosmology Quetzalcóatl was the creator god of learning and patron of the arts, agriculture, and science. In Aztec legend Quetzalcóatl or a historical figure closely associated with him was banished from Mexico in
c.
ad 987, but in leaving he promised to return. This promise became so bound up in Aztec mythology that in ad 1519 when Cortez and his Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico he was regarded for a time as the returning deity.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search